A nine-year-old who was bullied for having only one hand has become the first boy in the UK to be fitted with a new child-sized bionic hand.

Josh Cathcart was tormented by classmates for his disability but now he said he cannot wait to show off his “awesome” new limb to friends at school.

His family told how they were motivated to find a solution after Josh became withdrawn and came across Touch Bionics in Livingston.

Touch had just developed the i-limb Quantum, an extra-small version of their prosthetic hand, which gives Josh a range of motion.

Josh said: “I got it put on about two days ago. It feels quite heavy. I can stick my thumb up. I can make a pinch grip, I can get a grip for cutting with a knife.

“I made myself a bagel yesterday. I can open bottles and packets with it, I can stack up blocks, I can build lego with it and I can pull my trousers up.”

Clare, who lives with husband James and Josh in Dalgety Bay, Fife, said: “Josh had been getting picked on and became quite withdrawn and upset, so we started looking for something a bit more advanced, something that moved.

“So, we had chats with him and then went on the internet and came across this company.

“It gives him his independence, so he can now make his own food and tidy his own room.”

Alison Goodwin, prosthetist at Touch Bionics, said: “Josh has spent this week with us being fitted with the Touch Bionics i-limb quantum prosthesis.

“He’s the youngest we’ve fitted so far because of the extra small hand that we now have available, so it’s been great to now have the experience this week of fitting the youngest-ever person with the i-limb hand.

“We only released the i-limb Quantum in June, so it’s brand new and offers some new features such as what we call i-mo technology, which allows him to do forward, backward and side-to- side movements, so he can enter grips such as a pinch grip or a lateral grip.

“It works from electrodes which are positioned on the surface of his skin within the socket of his prosthesis, so this is the custom-made part which is fitted on to his residual limb.

“When he tenses those muscles, the electrodes open and close the hand.

“He’s taken to it really positively this week, and he’s looking forward to being able to integrate it into his daily life so he’s really motivated to learn and use it day-to-day.”